Brush construction

ABSTRACT

The invention contemplates a brush in which a bundle of natural brush bristles is secured to a tubular retaining ferrule having a bore open at both ends. The root ends of the bristles are assembled within the bore, with the tip ends projecting outwardly as the applicator end of the brush. A guided pin is inserted on the central axis of the bundle to radially outwardly further compact the bristles in the bore, and to serve a molding function as a thermosetting resin is cured to hardness; the root ends are thereby bonded to each other and to the ferrule, and a smooth central passage is defined for pomade supply.

[ 51 July 11, 1972 [S4] BRUSH CONSTRUCTION [72] Inventors: William JamesLnnden, Chesire; Gunner Lundqnkt, Remington, both of Conn.

[73] Assignee: The International Sliver Company,

Meridan, Conn.

[22] Filed: Dec. 12, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 884,723

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 692,416. Dec. 21,1967.

1,873,669 8/1932 Smith ..40lll 73 2.698352 1/1955 Osrow ....40l/l833,100,310 8/l963 Polk et a1 1 5/193 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS381,614 10/1932 Great Britain ..40l/l7$ Germany Great Britain l 5/l92Primary Examiner-Peter Feldman Attomey-Sandoe. Hopgood and CalimafdeABSTRACT [52] US. CL 15/193, 401/171 The invention contemplates a brushin which a bundle of natu- [5 1] Int. Cl ..A46b 3/02, A46b 11/00 r r hri e i secured to a b ar re ining ferrule hav- 531 FieldolSeanch..1s/190,19|,192,193,194, ins-abore p alboth ends-The rootends ofthetles re 15/104332, 104.93; 401/171, 173, 175, 288, 270. assembled Withmthe bore, with the p ends Projecting 176 wardly as the applicator end ofthe brush. A guided pin is inserted 0n the central axis of the bundle toradially outwardly 5 deem CM further compact die bristles in the bore,and to serve a molding function as a thermos-clung resin is cured tohardness; the UNITED STATES PATENTS root ends are thereby bonded to eachother and lo the ferrule,

d th tral d E d f d l 1 968,186 8/1910 McCardle et a1. ..401/115 a Smpassage e e supp y 1,337,998 4/1920 Church ..40l/1765Clnins,6Draw1ngfigures X? i Jo u i BRUSH CONSTRUCTION This applicationis a division of our copending application, Ser. No. 692,416, filed Dec.2|, 1967.

This invention relates to internally fed brushes of natural bristle and,in particular, to such a brush construction.

Feed-through brushes of the character indicated find use in a variety ofapplications, including cosmetic applicators wherein a reservoir ofpomade or the like supplies the brush bristles from the rear, beingforced through spaces between bristles. ln quality brushes, which employnatural bristle such as pony hair, squirrel or sable, the brush bundleshave been assembled to a nose piece or ferrule, with the root ends ofthe hairs glued to each other and to the bore of the ferrule, thefeed-through passage being generated by drilling the glued assembly fromthe pomade-supply end. This process necessarily destroys and breaksnumerous individual bristles, thus inviting the annoyance of bristlefragments, as a contaminant of the applied pomade. Necessarily, a numberof the original bristles are completely lost, so that the ability to laydown a uniform pomade application is impaired.

It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide an improvedapplicator brush of the character indicated.

It is a specific object to provide a natural-bristle applicator brush inwhich all bristle elements are continuous throughout, in which greatercompacting of bristles is achieved within the retaining ferrule or nosepiece, in which there is absolutely no waste or destruction of thenatural bristle assembled in the ferrule, and in which the possibilityof dispensing bristle or glue fragments with pomade or the like isreduced to an absolute minimum.

It is another object to achieve the foregoing objects with a structurewhich is inherently simple, inexpensive, and foolproof, lending the sameto mass-production.

Other objects and further features of novelty and invention will bepointed out or will occur to those skilled in the art from a reading ofthe following specification, in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings. In said drawings, which show, for illustrative purposes only,a preferred embodiment of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a view, in side elevation, of a pomade applicatorincorporating a feed-through dispensing-brush tip of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the nose piece of FIG. 1, theview being partly broken-away on a section through the longitudinalaxis; and

FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are sectional views, similar to FIG. 2, toillustrate steps in the method of construction.

Briefly stated, the invention contemplates securing a bundle of naturalbrush bristles in assembled relation to a tubular retaining ferrulehaving a bore open at both ends. The root ends of the bristles areassembled within the bore, with the tip ends projecting outwardly as theapplicator end of the brush. A guided pin is inserted on the centralaxis of the bundle to radially outwardly further compact or compress thebristles in the bore, and to serve a molding function as a thermosettingresin is cured to hardness; the root ends are thereby bonded to eachother and to the ferrule, and a smooth central passage is defined forpomade supply.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the invention is shown inapplication to a cosmetic pomade-dispensing applicator having a tubularbody 10 which serves as the pomade reservoir. At one end, the nose pieceor ferrule 11 is secured to body 10, preferably in connection with aresilient seal ring 12 which may also seal the nose end when a cuppedclosure cap (not shown) is replaced, after pomade use. lntemally fedbristles 13 extend out beyond the tip of the nose piece; and a manualactuator 14 carried at the other end of the body is operable to advancepiston means 15 within body 10, for controlled dispensing supply ofpomade or the like from the reservoir to the brush bristles 13. Thepistonactuating mechanism forms no part of the invention and istherefore not further described.

The completed nose assembly of the invention is shown in FIG. 2, whereinthe ferrule 11 is seen as a single piece which may be die-cast orfon'ned on a screw machine. The body of ferrule 11 surrounds acontinuous bore, characterized by an inner reducing taper 16 of lengthT, between a larger crosssectional area at the liquid-receiving end 17and a smaller cross-sectional area at the brush-projecting end 18. Theferrule body expands, from a minimum radial thickness near the tip end19, to a size at 20 consistent with that of body 10', a threadedprojecting end 21 engages the body 10, enabling the seal ring 12 to becompressed and located against a shoulder 22.

As previously explained, the bristles 13 are of straight natu ral hair,oriented to outwardly project the tip ends, and to contain the root endswithin the bore of ferrule ll. The root ends are shown near the base endof taper l6, and a region 23 with the bore is sectioned for plastic toshow the employment of thermosetting resin to consolidate into a singleunit a substantial length of all bristles within the bore and near theroot ends. Preferably, this consolidated region terminates short of thesmaller or tip end of the bore. Additionally, a smooth-bore centralpassage 24 is provided, free of bristles, and lined by continuousbristle and cured resin, throughout the region 23.

FIGS. 3 to 6 illustrate successive steps in the preferred method ofmaking the structure of FIG. 2. FIG. 3 shows the ferrule 11, just priorto insertion of the bundle of bristles l3 at the tail end 17. Theorientation is such that the smaller (tip) ends of the bristles areinserted first, with the base or root ends at the rear. The taperedregion 16 is in the order of 10 included angle and is smoothly formedwith the adjacent bore ends 17-18, so that smooth loading of the bundlel3 may proceed, using known techniques. The tip ends of bristles 13 arethen drawn out the tip of the ferrule, until the root ends are at ornear the base region of taper 16. Preferably, the compliment of bristlesthus loaded into the ferrule is essentially the same as if the bristledensity were to be uniform throughout the dispensing section, i.e., justas many bristles as if there were to be no passage 24.

Having thus loaded the bristles 13 into ferrule 11, this partialassembly is placed, inverted, in a locating aperture 26 of a supportmember or plate 27, allowing for free downwardly projecting suspensionof bristles 13, as shown in FIG. 4. A second plate 28, having aperturesas at 29, is then set against shoulder 22 to assure precise verticalorientation of the loaded ferrule. it will be appreciated that forquantity production, plural loaded ferrules may be similarlyaccommodated at registering further apertures (not shown) in plates27-28. The assembly is now ready for molding.

Molding proceeds by first applying a predetermined quantity of liquidthermosetting resin (e.g., phenolformaldehyde) to the upwardly open endof the ferrule. This is suggested in FIG. 4 by the dashed outline 30 forthe measured drop or drops of resin. A jig or guide member 31 (FIG. 5)is then located against the open end of the ferrule so as to align itsguide bore 32 with the bore of the ferrule. Jig 31 is shown with areduced end located in the bore section 17 and with a shoulder seated onthe upper exposed edge of ferrule ll. An elongated pin 33 isreciprocably guided at 32, with a sharply pointed tip 34 poised forclean entry into the root end of the bristles l3. Depression of pin 33is suggested by an arrow, the full extent being limited by head 35abutting the upper surface of jig 31.

At this juncture, the parts relationship is that shown in H6. 6, whereinthe pointed tip 34 extends beyond the ferrule but short of the bristleends, and wherein the cylindrical body of the pin also extends beyondthe ferrule. The rack 27-28 of ferrules 11 is then placed in an oven tocure the resin to final hardness. in the heating involved in curing, theresin 30 flows by gravity and by capillary action to permeate allinterstices between bristles, for a longitudinal extent reflecting thecontrolled quantity injected at 30. As previously indicated thisquantity, which must be determined by experiment for the particularconditions of bristle nature, bristle density, bore size, etc. isnevertheless chosen to accomplish bonding in region 23 to a longitudinalextent which is short of the ferrule-tip end. The nature of resin flowduring curing will be understood to define a smooth continuous passage24 within ferrule 11 and to bond the bristles to each other and to thebore of the ferrule.

After curing, plate 28 and jig 31 (with pin 33) are removed, and thefinished sub-assembly (nose piece with bristles) is ready for use, asshown in FIG. 2. For certain precision uses, it may be desired to haveall projecting bristles trimmed to the same projected length. Theclearance between pin tip 34 and the bristle tips at X (FIG. 6) permitsa suitable trimming cut to be taken, as on alignment 36, before plates27-28 are disassembled.

In a highly satisfactory employment of this invention, a nose piece of56-inch diameter outer-end bore has been packed with sable bristle. Thebristle length contained within the ferrule 11 has been substantially 1%inch, about one-half of which was anchored in the tapered region 16,which reduced the area of bore section by about 3 percent in a distanceT (FIG. 3) of Vi inch. The diameter of pin 33 serves to further reduce,by substantially 4 percent, the cross-sectional area at 18, so thatpin-insertion radially outwardly displaced and compressed the bristles(at 18) to that extent. To provide clean separation at the moldedpassage 24, pin 33 was pre-treated with a fluorocarbon releasing agent;a single such coating is found to serve repeated recycling of themolding operation on successive pieces. The guide bushing or jig 31 isalso preferably similarly treated with a fluorocarbon releasing agent,to avoid bonding the bushing to the ferrule, should the resin spill orbe carelessly applied. Curing of the resin to complete bonding andmolding was accomplished at an oven temperature of 275 F. for 4 hours,following instructions given for the particular commercially availableliquid resin which was employed. Upon removal from the oven, the entireunit was left to assume room temperature, over a period of hours. Cleanpin removal, without damaging the brush or the passage 24, was thenaccomplished.

It will be seen that we have provided an improved brush of the characterindicated, wherein a precision bore for pomade or the like may be moldedon the brush axis without breakage or loss of bristles. Pomade or thelike application, using such a brush, is found to be remarkably smooth,uniform, and free of contamination, either by bristle fragments or byresin fragments.

Although the invention has been described in detail for the preferredform and method, it will be understood that modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention as defined in theclaims which follow.

What is claimed is:

i. As an article of manufacture, a brush comprising an elongated tubularferrule with a radially compressed packed bundle of bristles in partcontained by said ferrule and in part projecting beyond one end of saidferrule, all said bristles being continuously elongated in substantialoverlap with each other at least within the ferrule, the portion of saidbristles within said ferrule including the base ends of said bristles,and a hardened bonding material radially permeating said bundle near thebase ends and bonding said bristles to each other and into aneffectively solid end secured to said ferrule, the bonding material andadjacent central continuous bristles defining a smooth continuouslywalled central passage for liquid, said passage extending at least forthe length of the bonded region. 2. As an article of manufacture, abrush comprising an elongated tubular ferrule having a bore open at aninlet liquid receiving end of larger cross-sectional area than theopposite outlet end, there being a tapered portion of the boreconnecting said larger and smaller areas, a radially compressed packedbundle of natural bristles in part contained by said ferrule and in partprojecting beyond said opposite end of the bore, all said bristles beingcontinuously elongated in substantial overlap with each other with theroot ends at substantially the tapered region of the bore, and ahardened bonding material radially permeating said bundle from the rootends to said smaller area and bonding said bristles to said ferrule andto each other in an efiectively solid annular root end, the bondingmaterial and ad acent central bristles of said annulus defining acentral liquid-supply passage extending at least for the bonded lengthof those bristles which surround the passage.

3. As an article of manufacture, a brush comprising an elongated tubularferrule having a bore open at both ends, a radially compressed packedbundle of natural bristles in part contained by said ferrule and in partprojecting beyond one end of said ferrule, all said bristles beingcontinuously elongated in substantial overlap with each other at leastwithin said ferrule, the portion of said bristles within said ferruleincluding the root ends of said bristles, a hardened bonding materialradially permeating said bundle near the root ends and bonding saidbristles to each other in a radially outwardly packed annulus terminatedby and bonded to the bore of said ferrule, the bonded length of saidbristles being essentially fully contained within said ferrule, thebonding material and adjacent continuous central bristles of saidannulus defining a continuous passage through the bonded region of saidbristles for central liquid supply from the other end of said ferrule tothe unbonded projecting ends of said bristles.

4. The article of claim 3, in which the bore of said annulus at thebonded region thereof is smooth and continuously cylindrical, beingdefined by bristles and by bonding material.

5. The article of claim 4, in which said ferrule is generallycylindrical about a central axis with which the bore of said annulus iscoaxial.

1. As an article of manufacture, a brush comprising an elongated tubularferrule with a radially compressed packed bundle of bristles in partcontained by said ferrule and in part projecting beyond one end of saidferrule, all said bristles being continuously elongated in substantialoverlap with each other at least within the ferrule, the portion of saidbristles within said ferrule including the base ends of said bristles,and a hardened bonding material radially permeating said bundle near thebase ends and bonding said bristles to each other and into aneffectively solid end secured to said ferrule, the bonding material andadjacent central continuous bristles defining a smooth continuouslywalled central passage for liquid, said passage extending at least forthe length of the bonded region.
 2. As an article of manufacture, abrush comprising an elongated tubular ferrule having a bore open at aninlet liquid-receiving end of larger cross-sectional area than theopposite outlet end, there being a tapered portion of the boreconnecting said larger and smaller areas, a radially compressed packedbundle of natural bristles in part contained by said ferrule and in partprojecting beyond said opposite end of the bore, all said bristles beingcontinuously elongated in substantial overlap with each other with theroot ends at substantially the tapered region of the bore, and ahardened bonding material radially permeating said bundle from the rootends to said smaller area and bonding said bristles to said ferrule andto each other in an effectively solid annular root end, the bondingmaterial and adjacent central bristles of said annulus defining acentral liquid-supply passage extending at least for the bonded lengthof those bristles which surround the passage.
 3. As an article ofmanufacture, a brush comprising an elongated tubular ferrule having abore open at both ends, a radially compressed packed bundle of naturalbristles in part contained by said ferrule and in part projecting beyondone end of said ferrule, all said bristles being continuously elongatedin substantial overlap with each other at least within said ferrule, theportion of said bristles within said ferrule including the root ends ofsaid bristles, a hardened bonding material radially permeating saidbundle near the root ends and bonding said bristles to each other in aradially outwardly packed annulus terminated by and bonded to the boreof said ferrule, the bonded length of said bristles being essentiallyfully contained within said ferrule, the bonding material and adjacentcontinuous central bristles of said annulus defining a continuouspassage through the bonded region of said bristles for central liquidsupply from the other end of said ferrule to the unbonded projectingends of said bristles.
 4. The article of claim 3, in which the bore ofsaid annulus at the bonded region thereof is smooth and continuouslycylindrical, being defined by bristles and by bonding material.
 5. Thearticle of claim 4, in which said ferrule is generally cylindrical abouta central axis with which the bore of said annulus is coaxial.